Evidently, Stanley Turrentine had a point for organists. A lot so, that he wed one: Shirley Scott. They obtained hitched in 1960 when they were both 26; in a weird spin of destiny, the Pittsburgh-born tone saxophonist’s launching recording session for Blue Note, which happened the exact same year, was a sideman job with an organist. That was the estimable Jimmy Smith, after that leading the Hammond B3 fee in the heart jazz motion, on 2 workshop days that caused the traditional cds Midnight Special as well as Back At The Chicken Shack. The list below year, Turrentine would certainly go into the recording workshop with Shirley to videotape Dearly Beloved, the initial of a variety of traditional cds the partners taped with each other, consisting of Never Let Me Go, A Chip Off The Old Block, as well as Hustlin’.

Listen to Hustlin’ on Apple Music as well as Spotify.

Because Shirley was acquired to a competing indie jazz tag, Prestige, her existence wasn’t formally recognized on Dearly Beloved as well as she made use of a thinly-disguised pseudonym, Little Miss Cott. Afterwards, nevertheless, she showed up under her very own name. For range, each time Turrentine took Scott right into the workshop for among his Blue Note sessions, he made use of a various setup of artists. On Hustlin’, which was reduced at Rudy Van Gelder’s well-known New Jersey videotaping center on Friday, January 24, 1964, Turrentine generated guitar player Kenny Burrell – after that a recognized difficult bop expert – drummer Otis Finch as well as bassist Bob Cranshaw. The latter’s look was intriguing, as the existence of an organist (that would usually make use of foot pedals to play reduced regularity tones) would normally avert the requirement for a bassist.

Virile in its athleticism

Propelled by a habit forming, foot-tapping, shuffle-time rhythm, the cd’s opener, “Trouble (No.2),” is a transmittable heart jazz number that discovers Turrentine taking another look at the Lloyd Price/Harold Logan-penned song that opened his Never Let Me Go cd, taped the previous year. Turrentine’s husky tone is nearly vital in its athleticism, while Scott’s comping, on the various other hand, reveals restriction. Yet when it’s time for her to march as well as solo, she shakes off the irons.

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Though written in 1941, “Love Letters” didn’t become a hit for another 20 years, when country singer Ketty Lester hit with it in both the US as well as the UK. Turrentine’s rendition is heavenly – gentle, eloquently tasteful, and fleshed out by a combination of exquisite solos (saxophone, followed by organ and guitar) and intuitive ensemble work. Turrentine penned the next track, “The Hustler”: a faster, hard bop-oriented number peppered with blues inflections on which Burrell takes the first solo after the statement of the catchy theme. Then Turrentine shows his mettle with a sinuous extemporization that illustrates the inherent soulfulness of his approach to the tenor saxophone. It manages to be raspy and smooth at the same time. He’s followed by his nimble-fingered wife, who delivers a masterclass in soul jazz organ, before a reprise of the main theme.

Recasting songs in his own image

Coming from Shirley Scott’s pen, the next number, “Ladyfingers,” is aptly named. It’s an ambling blues waltz featuring a call-and-response-style theme involving antiphonal interchanges between Turrentine’s sax and Burrell’s guitar. The latter takes the initial solo, followed by Scott – whose imaginative approach to improv is anything but routine – and then Turrentine, whose raspy saxophone is attractively full-bodied but also brimming with energy.

The album’s second cover is “Something Happens To Me,” a tune recorded by singer Nancy Wilson, in 1960, for her Something Wonderful album. Turrentine shows his lyrical side on this carefree midtempo swinger, which is driven by Bob Cranshaw’s walking bass and Otis Finch’s kinetic drums.

“Goin’ Home” closes Hustlin’ and is based on the main melody from the “Largo” movement of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony, which itself was inspired by African-American spirituals the composer heard while visiting America. Turrentine and his gang reconfigure it into a mellow soul jazz workout that swings blithely while offering space for tasteful solos from three of the main protagonists. While Burrell and Scott combine an exquisite sense of good taste with deep feeling and high technical skill on their solos, Turrentine eclipses them both with the effortless nature of his own improvisations. Though the song isn’t an original one, the saxophonist gets inside the melody and filters it through his personality. It’s a performance that shows how he could inhabit a piece of music completely, making it his own.

Turrentine’s ability to recast other people’s material in his own image is the sign of a true master. On Hustlin’, the Pittsburgh saxophonist – who was still three months shy of his 30th birthday – showed that he was destined to end up being one of jazz’s biggest artists.

Hustlin’ has actually been editioned as component of Blue Note’s Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series.

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